PA Woman Accused of Arson

(Scranton, Pennsylvania) A 27-year-old local woman, Susan McCauley, has been accused of setting fire to the multiunit apartment building from which she had recently been evicted.

McCauley faces counts of arson and criminal mischief.

Thomas Taylor, a captain with the Wilson Fire Company in Peckville, was the first responder to enter through the home's open exterior basement doors, he said during his testimony Tuesday.

Capt. Taylor explained he found a second door at the rear of the basement stairs open and, once inside, used a pressurized water can to extinguish two areas of flames he encountered before a hose was brought in.

After the entire fire was put out, state police Fire Marshal Stephen Kaneski began his probe into how the blaze began, he testified Tuesday.

In the basement, Trooper Kaneski ruled out the possibility a dryer could have sparked the blaze and found three areas where fires had been intentionally set, he testified.

McCauley was booked into custody at the Lackawanna County Prison with bail set at $20,000.